


Slow Motion

by Neva_Borne



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: AtLA, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Cute, F/M, Fluff, Hakoda (Avatar) is a Good Parent, Katara - Freeform, Marriage Proposal, One Shot, POV Zuko (Avatar), Penguin Sledding, Penguins, Post-Canon, Post-War, Protective Sokka (Avatar), Sledding, Sokka is a dork, Southern Water Tribe, Tumblr Prompt, Zuko - Freeform, Zutara, little bit of angst?, prompt, proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:01:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26186080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neva_Borne/pseuds/Neva_Borne
Summary: Katara comes up with a plan to help Zuko de-stress when they decide to visit her family in the Southern Water Tribe.
Relationships: Katara & Zuko (Avatar), Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 155
Collections: Zutara One Shots





	Slow Motion

“Sorry…  _ what _ are we doing out here in the middle of nowhere?” Zuko grumbled, wrapping his parka closer around himself and exhaling a small burst of flame out of his mouth in an attempt to warm himself.

Katara turned to look at him, her blue eyes sparkling in the reflected light of the snow. She looked beautiful, as she always did. Seeing her dressed once more in the fluffy blue parka of her homeland reminded him of the first time he’d seen her, and he couldn’t help but smile at her as he thought about how far they had come since then.

After the war ended, everyone had gone their separate ways, including Katara. She had returned to the South Pole to help her family rebuild it, to help her step-grandfather Pakku begin a new waterbending school where women would be taught as well as men. She was gone for a year, and even with the letters that they had exchanged frequently throughout that time, it was a lonely time for Zuko.

He and Mai hadn’t lasted long after his coronation. He had wanted it to work; she was beautiful, clever, and a perfect lady. She was exactly what the Fire Nation expected of a Fire Lady, but she just wasn’t right for him. They parted gracefully and saw each other from time to time, when she would come to visit Ty Lee, but even their friendship was somewhat lacking.

Zuko had found himself looking forward to Katara’s letters even more. They were his only source of happiness throughout the long weeks filled with political plans and scheming advisors that constantly tried to undermine his authority as Fire Lord.

And then Katara had shown up at the Fire Nation palace unexpectedly, telling him only that the South Pole didn’t need her anymore and that she and Aang hadn’t worked out. She just needed to be somewhere doing something important, and the Fire Nation was the first place she thought of to go.

Immediately, he had found her advice and support invaluable, and their long days often ended with long walks around the gardens, and their talks turned from politics to personal topics, and to their breakups, and, eventually, to everything that had happened between them - from Ba Sing Se to the Agni Kai. 

He fell in love with her - or perhaps simply realized he had been in love with her for a while - long before he acted upon it.

The first time he kissed her was by the turtleduck pond. They had both fallen into a comfortable silence after their walk, and she was feeding the turtleducks seeds by tossing them gently into the water. He had watched her face, admiring the way it lit up as the turtleducklings gobbled down the seeds and then popped their fluffy little heads back out of the water, beady black eyes begging for more. When she had turned to him, a bright smile on her face, eyes alive with joy, he had just stared at her, entranced. 

And when he’d kissed her, she’d kissed him back.

_ “You  _ said you were stressed and we needed to get away from our responsibilities for a while.” She grinned, her voice dragging him back to the present.

“Yes, which is why we’re visiting your family.” Zuko blinked at her and raised his eyebrow. “Which, I might add, has not exactly been  _ stress free.”  _

He remembered how Hakoda had pulled him aside almost immediately upon their arrival and interrogated him endlessly. Zuko had always respected the man as a warrior, chief, and as Katara’s father, but he also found him intimidating. He was worried that the Water Tribe man would see through him, see how much he didn’t deserve Katara. 

After Hakoda  _ finally  _ let him go,  _ Sokka  _ had begun pestering him relentlessly about when  _ exactly  _ was he planning on proposing to Katara because “damn it Zuko it’s been two years” and “I proposed to Suki after  _ a year” _ and “you better not be planning on breaking her heart.” 

“Oh come on,” she laughed. “You aren’t seriously afraid of my family, are you? They love you!”

He snorted. “Are you kidding? Your dad is  _ terrifying.  _ I feel like he wants to eat me alive before I have the chance to hurt you.”

“Pssh.” She waved a hand dismissively. “You’re overthinking it. Come on.” 

She grabbed his hand, pulling him onward through the shin-deep snow. Despite being shorter than him, Katara trudged through the snow much more easily than Zuko, and he half-wondered if she was actually waterbending it away from herself or if her ease of movement simply came from growing up here.

“So why  _ are _ we out in the middle of nowhere?” He repeated, realizing she had never actually answered his question.

“Because,” she started, cresting a small hill of ice and pointing down, “of that.”

Zuko followed her gaze, panting slightly as he came up beside her. Below them, waving their flippers and squeaking out greetings to each other, was a large waddle of penguins. A few jumped off a cliff into the deep blue ocean below, resurfacing minutes later with fish clutched in their beaks.

“Penguins?” He asked, glancing at Katara.

She nodded, grinning. “Today, Fire Lord Zuko, you are learning the ancient and sacred art of penguin sledding.”

With that, she whistled and withdrew two fish from her parka. A small group of penguins waddled over excitedly, squeaking and squawking at each other, each determined to be the first to reach the food. 

“Penguin  _ what?”  _ Zuko stammered out, but Katara just grinned and handed him one of the fish.

“Pick your steed,” she said. “And choose wisely. It’s a race, and loser helps Gran Gran cook dinner.”

The penguins were upon them, and Zuko was overwhelmed with the oily, salty, fishy smell of the creatures as they crowded around him, each begging for the fish he held up high out of their reach. 

They all looked the same, and after a few fruitless minutes of trying to differentiate them from one another, he selected one at random, feeding it the fish as Katara had done for hers. The other penguins waddled away disappointedly as Katara and Zuko held on to their chosen mounts.

“Ready?” The waterbender grinned at him, carefully positioning herself on top of the large penguin’s back.

“No.” Zuko grumbled, copying her position and clinging tightly to what he could only describe as the penguin’s shoulders.

“I promise, if this doesn’t de-stress you, nothing will.”

He raised his eyebrow. “Sliding down an icy hill near a freezing cold ocean at risk of serious injury or death is supposed to  _ de _ -stress me?”

Her grin widened. “Yep.”

He shook his head. “You’d better not cheat with waterbending.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Her penguin squawked impatiently - apparently there was a time limit to the fish bribe.

“Alright. Ready… set… go!”

The penguins seemed to do all the work as they both slid effortlessly off the top of the hill and down the ice and snow, speeding directly towards the ocean. Zuko clung desperately to his penguin, hearing only the wind whistling in his ears as it blew his hood off his head and Katara’s laughter beside him.

The ocean drew nearer and nearer and he was convinced that the penguins were going to slide straight off the cliff and send them plunging into the frigid water, but at the last moment, right as Zuko was about to jump off and save himself, they turned sharply, sending up a spray of snow as they twisted, headed down a winding path that curved along the edge of the ice.

Suddenly Katara’s penguin shot forward in a burst of speed, overtaking him as she leaned closely to the creature’s head. Her hair billowed out behind her and he just stared at her in wonder for a moment.

Then he remembered that it was a race, and he leaned forward on his penguin, urging it to speed up, and he caught up, their penguins neck and neck as they careened down the icy path.

“Not bad, Fire Boy!” Katara smirked, turning her head to look at him as they took a curve and sent another spray of snow out to the side.

“Thought I couldn’t handle it?” He teased back. “I’ll have you know I’m barely getting started!”

He leaned forward again and his penguin shot past Katara’s, headed for what appeared to be a small hill in the path.

“Zuko, wait! Not too fast over that - it’s a-”

Her warning came too late, and her words were cut off. Before Zuko had a chance to react, he and his penguin were flying up the ramp and were suddenly airborne. His stomach dropped out beneath him as he looked down and realized just how high up they were, and just how hard they were going to land. 

For a moment, it was like living in slow motion as they reached the peak of their arc. He could see clearly the ice around him, the snow glistening in the summer sun that never went away. He saw the waves of the ocean, the dark spots of penguins surfacing for air. Further out, he thought he saw a whale - or maybe a pod of whales. 

He remembered the last time he felt like this, when Azula’s lightning had crackled in her fingers and he caught the split-second glance she had thrown at Katara. Everything had been clear to him then, too. 

They began to fall, and Zuko shut his eyes tightly, holding onto his penguin and silently apologizing to it, praying to Agni that they would survive and bracing for the impact on the hard ice below them.

It never came. Instead, a column of snow rose up to meet them, catching them gently and bringing them down to the surface slowly and safely. The penguin squawked in surprise as it suddenly found itself on solid ground once more, then stood up, throwing Zuko unceremoniously to the ground.

Zuko stared, dumbfounded, after the creature as it waddled away, squawking and squeaking indignantly, before it disappeared behind a pile of snow.

“Zuko!” Katara’s voice reached him as if from far away, and he looked up to see her racing towards him on foot - apparently having abandoned her own penguin.

“Zuko! Are you alright?”

He was still laying in the snow where the penguin had dumped him, and he suddenly realized that he was very wet and very cold. 

And very much not dead from a fall.

“Y-yes.” He stammered. “I’m fine. I-”

She threw her arms around him. “I’m so sorry, I totally forgot to warn you about that!” She cried, and then suddenly she was pulling him to his feet and walking around him and prodding at him.

“Katara-”

“I can’t believe I forgot about it - of course that was so  _ stupid-” _

“Katara.”

“Usually I use my waterbending if I want to go fast over it - and Aang used his airbending but-”

_ “Katara.”  _

She looked up then, finally, and met his gaze. The look in her brilliant blue eyes made his heart flutter in his chest. He reached up to cup her cheeks with his soaking wet mittens. 

“Katara,” he repeated. “I’m fine. I’m unhurt.”

Tears welled in her eyes. “This was supposed to be fun and not stressful and I nearly got you killed on a  _ penguin  _ and I-”

He kissed her then, not caring that her lips were cold or that she tasted like ice and salt, or that he himself was freezing. 

When he pulled away, she just stared up at him, confused and possibly more in shock than he was from his near-death experience.

“Katara, this was the most fun I’ve had in years.” He said, brushing away a lock of her hair that had come loose during their wild ride down the ice. He was shaking slightly, his heart racing in his chest.

Reaching into his pocket, he felt the familiar warm, round object. So many times he had reached into his pocket for it. So many times he had chickened out of pulling it out and giving it to her, afraid of what she might say. But right now he felt invincible, and she was so beautiful with her wild hair and her fluffy parka and the snow glinting all around them, and he knew that it was right. 

He pulled the necklace out of his pocket, holding it tightly in his fist as he stared at her and took a deep breath. 

“Marry me, Katara.”

He opened his fist, revealing the gold and blue pendant he had spent months carving for her, painstakingly merging the two symbols of their nations into one, into something unique and beautiful.

Her gaze dropped to the necklace as more tears filled her eyes, as her hand went up to cover her mouth, and then she looked back up at him.

“Well it’s about damn time, Zuko.” She choked out, and he didn’t even have time to react before she was throwing her arms around him again.

He’d never felt less stressed or more happy in his entire life.

**Author's Note:**

> My first one-shot! This came from the prompt that Zuko was stressed out and they decided to go to the Southern Water Tribe and penguin sled to relax.  
> Turned into maybe a bit more than that. But hey. A girl's gotta follow her heart when the story gets going.


End file.
